X-Com's Finest (An X-Com 2 play through)

Operation Unceasing Terror

It did.

The squad wasted no time moving forward with Halverson once again taking to the roof. She was itching for some payback after her last mission. She knew she was a better asset than what she'd proven so far. Just as she was getting into position, she noticed an ADVENT plane in the distance.

"Look out guys, we have company, it looks to be coming in right on top of us."

Gunner Van Dyke looked towards her brother, "Go get the data, we'll take care of these and meet up with you. We can't waste time in getting the info, and Zalewski can grab it from a distance."

Zalewski nodded. His GREMLIN shrieked.

The Ranger looked back at the trio, doubt slowly encroaching his features.

"GO! We'll handle this!"

Gunner Van Dyke quickly dropped back into ready position, watching as Pugh did the same, and Halverson prepped herself from the rooftop. It was going to a messy welcoming party -for them anyway.

The Ranger looked over at his support and nodded. The two of them darted forward towards their assignment.

The dropship arrived, sending a pair of grunts and an officer to the ground with alien garble and an audible thud. That's all it took as the Gunner began unloading on the officer sending him to the ground. Halverson used the pause to fire, removing the officer's head from its body. It was time for payback. Pugh turned and fired – the shot going wide with her new weapon. She hadn't had enough practice yet, and the Gunner was glad that her brother wasn't there to witness it, or they'd never hear the end of it.

It took no time for Halverson to find the next target, an alien grunt bending down staring in disbelief at the decapitated officer. She fired another shot and missed its head but managed to pierce its neck where it fell to the ground, right on top of its former officer. Both Pugh and the Gunner prepped themselves and waited for the final grunt to move. It didn't take long before it got antsy and bolted for better cover. The pair were waiting for them, and the discharge from Pugh's bolt-caster fried the poor alien. It had no idea what hit him.

With nothing left to shoot, the trio moved forward to join the boys.

Zalewski and the Ranger had moved into position around the train car. Zalewski paused a moment, typing commands into his handhold console, and the screeching banshee of a GREMLIN went streaking across the area. It paused at the edge of the traincar, calculating the best way to enter the car without hitting an entrance. It took several seconds of wobbling before it figured out the correct algorithm and entered heading for the console. It took another minute or so of weaving and wobbling before the screeching GREMLIN finally positioned itself to hack the dataport. The GREMLIN was actually very efficient at obtaining the data, and turned to exit the facility, only to find a Sectoid and a grunt in the train car, watching it with undeniable implausibility. The GREMLIN quickly left, data stored and ready for transfer.

With the data stored, and the backup ready, Zalewski got into position, with the Ranger in position just outside the train car. Zalewski looked over at the ranger and casually tossed up a grenade. He mimicked tossing the grenade into the train car that the Ranger was sitting right outside of. The Ranger shook his head no. Zalewski nodded his head yes. Van Dyke shook his head no again, this time much more vehemently. Zalewski nodded his head yes once again. Van Dyke slowly slid two fingers across his neck – the ramifications of what would happen. Zalewski casually pulled the pin and tossed the grenade into the train car.

It exploded.

The Ranger was not expecting to wake up. If he did wake up, it'd be in a hospital bed of some alien laboratory in the middle of nowhere. At the very least, he'd wake up in a hospital somewhere with some doctor pulling shrapnel out of unquestionable parts of his body. Instead, there was a loud explosion and the train car shook slightly from the internal impact of the blast. Apparently trains were made of sterner stuff than they used to be. Zalewski managed to injure the grunt inside the car, and pissed off the Sectoid who came out looking for blood. Additionally, the explosion caught the attention of two other aliens on the other side, an alien lancer and an alien officer.

Halverson, from her poised position in front of the car got a clear shot on the grunt and fired, sending the injured alien to the ground. Apparently standing is difficult when your leg has been removed.

Nobody had a clear shot on the injured lancer who was tucked just inside the doorway, and Gunner Van Dyke did the only sensible thing – shooting as many bullets into the general area as possible. That lancer wasn't going anywhere without difficulty. Her brother jumped through a quick break of the fire-stream in order to insure the sectoid didn't do anything stupid. An ionic axe to the chest will do that and the sectoid leader went down quickly.

The lancer, realizing his situation was poor, decided to risk it jump for different cover. It didn't end well. Gunner Van Dyke did her job and ripped the lancer some new ventilation.

Pugh looked over at Halverson, and Halverson smiled grimly, "It would be Soooo much easier if that officer simply walked right in front of us. I mean, it's inevitable at this point right?"

As if she had been psychic, the officer did indeed come running out of the train and into cover just outside the train car. He was surrounded by all five squad members.

Halverson looked back, "You have GOT to be kidding me...."

Ranger Van Dyke didn't hesitate. With the officer's attention on the others, he quickly slipped up behind the officer with his skulljack and suddenly realized he had no idea what to do with it. So he did what he could, he smacked the alien in the back of the head with his axe pommel, temporarily stunning him. He then jumped on top of the alien, and forcing it onto its stomach while trying to figure out what to do. He could barely hear Zalewski in the background as the area was covered in shouting.

"Put the pointy end in the slot, pointy end in the SLOT! Then use your GREMLIN to maneuver the interface!"

The Ranger looked around, GREMLIN? Regardless, he could do the first part, and he shoved the Skulljack into the slot in the back of the alien's skull and it immediately went limp. There was a quick flash and then sitting there, among all five of them was some kind of electronic creature. It seemed to have spawn out of thin air and suddenly had its eyes on the destruction of everyone.

Zalewski perked up. "WOW! IT'S A CODEX! CAN WE KEEP IT?!?!"

It was Halverson who solved the dilemma. She shot it. It was electronic, but apparently the form could be disrupted as it briefly dissolved before reforming.

That was all the team needed. Gunner Van Dyke tossed over the frost grenade which froze the thing in place and then nudged Pugh. "Go on, kill it."

"But what if..."

"DO IT!"

Pugh quickly ran up right next to the Codex who was quickly thawing out the ice, and fired. Like in times past the ice conducted the electricity quite nicely and quickly dissolved the electronic creature, leaving just a small token of its existence.

Something like that might be useful in research of course.

***

The team was welcomed back with smiles. It had been a few missions where nobody had needed the hospital. Not only that, but the aliens this time around had not even fired a single shot. It was a flawless victory. They didn't come often, but it was nice to get one now and again.

Halverson and Pugh both got promotions (although Pugh did have to return the bolt-caster).

It was a happy moment. One of very few they were getting at the moment.